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A Look at Korea's Educational System Imagine a world where students bow to teachers, follow strict dress codes, study on Saturdays and compete fiercely for top grades. Can't believe such a place exists? Welcome to Korea. Spend a little time at a South Korean school and you'll notice some distinct differences from the US educational system. The elementary schools have six grades, but the junior high and high schools have three grades. Students don't change classrooms between periods. The teachers do. And everyday after school, the students clean their own classrooms. A typical Korean school day includes six to seven 50-minute-classes a day. There is a 10-minute break in between, when teachers change classes, and an hour lunch break. On Saturday, there is a half-day of classes. The class size averages about 40-50 students, and each class is assigned an identification number. One teacher is assigned responsibility for each class of students. Strict Appearances Forget about wearing short skirts, midriff tops and ripped jeans in a South Korean school. These educators are dead serious about strict dress codes for their students. Most public schools require students to wear uniforms—as well as a tag with their name, grade and homeroom number at all times. The girls' skirts may not go above the knee. The guys must always button up their shirts. No exceptions. To keep floors clean, students change their shoes before entering the school building. Some junior and high schools are eliminating uniforms. But that still doesn't give students a license to wear whatever they want. Boys are required to have crew cut haircuts, and girls can't wear hair longer than beyond the bottom of their necks. There's no hair color allowed. Or hair spray. Or punk haircuts. Forget about tattoos or pierced eyebrows too. Academic Snobbery Students are expected to compete against each other for top grades. In fact, the Korean educational system deliberately drives students towards this fierce competition. Each exam is graded and ranked. Top performers are treated specially, based on their test results. The academic pressure is very high in all grades, including at colleges and universities. In fact, academic snobbism is quite prevalent in Korea, according to Jang Byung-kee, Hongik University's president. He says it's so bad that many believe there should be more emphasis on a college graduate's actual skills -- rather than the university's name on a diploma. "In our society, academic cliquism is almost like a deep-seated disease," he wrote last spring in JoongAng llbo, South Korea's leading daily newspaper. Student
Monitoring Fortunately, for everyone involved, upperclassmen are encouraged to focus attention only on those students acting rude or dishonorably. Smaller, studious students are well protected and looked after in Korean society. Unlike the US, the bullies are much more likely to be the ones under attack here.
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